Google TV Control Driver v1.66

Smart Home Programming

Overview

Local two-way control of Google TV, Android TV and Fire TV devices over the network using ADB-over-TCP. Full navigation and transport, app discovery and launch with icons, volume with feedback, Now Playing metadata, Cast text-to-speech announcements and a browser Web Object dashboard. No cloud account, and nothing installed on the device.

Zero-Lag Input (new in v1.60)

Navigation uses a tiny (3.6 KB) on-device key injector that the driver copies to a temporary folder and runs on demand. Key presses are injected in about 5 milliseconds instead of the ~750 ms of a normal shell key command on Android 11, so the remote feels instant. The helper is not an installed app - it lives in temporary storage, is removed on reboot, and the driver re-establishes it automatically on every connection. If it ever cannot start, the driver falls back to standard key commands and keeps working. This can be turned off with the "Zero-Lag Fast Input" setting.

Setup

1. On the device: Settings > System > About > tap Build (or Android TV OS build) seven times to enable Developer options.

2. Settings > System > Developer options > enable Network debugging / USB debugging (ADB over network, TCP port 5555).

3. Give the device a fixed IP address or a DHCP reservation.

4. In Integration Designer, add the driver and enter the device's IP in Device IP Address. Leave ADB Port at 5555.

5. Download the project to the processor. The first time it connects, the device shows an authorization prompt - select "Always allow from this computer" and OK.

6. Confirm Connection Status shows Connected and Authorised.

Features

- Navigation: Up / Down / Left / Right / Select / Back / Home / Menu.

- Transport: Play / Pause / Play-Pause / Stop / Next / Previous / Rewind / Fast Forward.

- Volume: Up / Down / Mute / Set Level, with feedback.

- Apps: browse the installed-apps list, launch by selection, with app icons. Bind Installed Apps to a list widget and Select Item as the row action.

- Now Playing: title, subtitle, artist, album, state, elapsed, duration and progress where the app publishes them.

- Power / wake, closed captions toggle, Wake-on-LAN, deep-link, and a browser Web Object dashboard.

Web Object Dashboard

The driver publishes a browser dashboard - d-pad, transport, volume, app launcher with icons and Now Playing - that you point an RTI Web Object at.

1. Tick "Enable Web Object UI" in Driver Properties (on by default).

2. Set the Web Object URL to: https://shpdrivers.services/googletv/?mac=ENDPOINT_ID

3. ENDPOINT_ID is the processor MAC address with the colons removed, in upper case, then an underscore, then the controlled device's IP address.

Example: processor 00:15:26:0F:13:59 controlling a device at 192.168.3.201 gives

https://shpdrivers.services/googletv/?mac=0015260F1359_192.168.3.201

The device IP is part of the ID by design. Every driver instance on one processor reports the same processor MAC, so without the IP suffix two Google TVs on the same processor would overwrite each other's Now Playing and app list.

You do not have to build the URL by hand. The driver prints the exact ID and the finished URL at startup - watch TraceView, or the telnet debug console, for these two lines:

Web UI: Endpoint ID 0015260F1359_192.168.3.201

Web UI: URL for integrator: https://shpdrivers.services/googletv/?mac=0015260F1359_192.168.3.201

Copy that URL straight into the Web Object.

Optional: add &transport=ws to the end of the URL to use the WebSocket connection, which updates the page instantly instead of polling every 2.5 seconds. It falls back to polling automatically if the WebSocket cannot be established.

Key Settings

- Device IP Address: the device's IP.

- ADB Port: 5555 (default).

- Zero-Lag Fast Input: on by default; disable only if key presses misbehave on an unusual device.

- Enable Web Object UI: on by default; publishes the browser dashboard described above.

- Debug Port: telnet diagnostics port (default 12509; 0 to disable).

Licensing

The driver runs fully for a 120-minute trial after each start. Enter a licence key (tied to the processor MAC shown in the driver variables) in the Licence Key setting for permanent use. Feedback and status remain available after the trial; only control commands are gated.

Troubleshooting

- Not authorised: accept the prompt on the device. If none appears, revoke debugging authorizations on the device (Developer options) and reconnect.

- Cannot connect: confirm Network debugging is enabled and the processor and device can reach each other on the network. The driver retries on its own indefinitely, backing off 5s, 10s, 15s and so on up to 60s between attempts, so it recovers by itself after a device reboot, power blip or DHCP change - no need to press Connect.

- Slow navigation: check that Fast Input shows Ready in the debug console; if not, confirm the device allows the temporary helper to run.

- Web Object blank, or stuck with no data: the mac in the URL must include the underscore plus device IP suffix. A bare MAC address only matches installs where Device IP Address was never set. Re-copy the URL from the "Web UI: URL for integrator" line in TraceView.

- Web Object shows the wrong room: with more than one instance on a processor, each has its own device IP suffix - check the suffix in each Web Object's URL.

Support

Smart Home Programming - https://smarthomeprogramming.com.au